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Guide for Authors

The Microscope publishes articles of original, previously unpublished, work from scientists and researchers, and also serves as the proceedings for the Inter/Micro conference held annually in Chicago. These papers are published quarterly as they are accepted.

Papers covering instrumentation, methods and unique applications of the microscope in any biological or physical science are appropriate for submission. Sufficient details of method and equipment should be given to enable another worker to repeat the work but generally known details which can be easily found in a cited paper, should be omitted. Write in the active rather than the passive voice. Use first person not third and do not use first person plural when first person singular is meant. All papers will be published in English. Letters to the Editor are welcome.

The manuscript should be, double spaced, on one side of the sheet only. One copy of each figure suitable for reproduction and one recognizable copy should be submitted. A 100-200 word abstract and list of keywords must be provided. The paper should be divided into sections and subsections with appropriate titles for each.

Photographs
Photographs should be on glossy paper and must have good contrast. Color illustrations will often be justified with the author’s financial cooperation. Photomicrographs should bear appropriate fiducial markings, so that the final magnification of prints can be quickly and accurately determined. Rules for electronic submissions can be found at the bottom of this page.

Drawings and Tables
Line drawings must be of good quality on plain paper. All lettering should be left in pencil for the editorial office to insert. Do not letter figure captions or legend on the figures. Metric units should be used throughout the text and figures; unusual units, e.g., denier, should be defined. All illustrations should be lightly identified on the back along the edge with the author’s name and the figure number. Figure captions for illustrations must be provided and each figure should be noted and described in the text. Rules for electronic submissions can be found at the bottom of this page.

References
References to earlier work should be cited and listed in numerical sequence. An Arabic numeral superscript should appear in the text at the proper point. The references should be typed on a separate sheet in sequence and in the form below. Use the ACS Style Guide

Peer Review
Acceptance of a submitted manuscript for publication is the responsibility of the publications committee of The Microscope and the editor and occurs only after review of the paper in accordance with the operating rules of the publications committee. Review of submitted manuscripts may be expected to be complete within 90 days.

Electronic Submission
Authors may submit their manuscripts as multiple electronic files. Please supply a separate file for each of the following:
Text — title, author(s) with affiliation and mailing address, abstract, keywords, text body, acknowledgments, references.
Text — tables in a tabular format, including titles and footnotes.
Text — figure captions.
Image — submit each figure as a separate image file (TIF or JPG) at 300 dpi or large image file size (dimensions > 2,000 pixels). Each figure should include the figure number.

Notice to Authors: Desktop Publication of The Microscope

Authors must submit both electronic and hardcopy. Please submit as much of the publication in electronic format as possible. Hand drawn figures can be digitally reproduced at no additional cost.

The list below indicates the accepted formats for text and graphics. If your system does not match any of these formats, the text should be saved as RTF (rich text format). Any questions about formats should be directed to the managing editor at (312) 842-7100, themicroscope@mcri.org.

Accepted formats for:

Text
Microsoft Word (or compatible word-processing program)
Rich Text Format

Images and Graphics (300 dpi)
TIF
JPG (non-lossy, uncompressed)

Any further questions can be directed to the Managing Editor at (312) 842-7100 (phone), (312) 842-1078 (fax), or themicroscope@mcri.org